This past weekend (Saturday, September 15 to be exact) was Independence Day in Costa Rica! On Friday, we had a class on all things Independence Day. We covered the national flag, anthem, and flower, as well as some of the most popular foods.
The flag (horizontal stripes of blue, white, red, white, blue) is full of symbolism. The blue represents the sky as well as liberty and hope; white represents peace (because Costa Rica doesn't have an army), rest, and freedom; and red represents passion for work.
The national anthem includes many of the same values represented in the flag. The music was written in 1852, but the lyrics weren't added until 50 years later when a contest was held to find the best lyrics for a national anthem.
The national seal is made of up 7 stars (representing 7 provinces), 3 volcanoes (Arenal and 2 others, representing the mountains), 2 boats (representing two coasts, both extremely important in trading), a sun (representing a new day and hope for the future), leaves (representing peace), and gold orbs (representing coffee grains).
The national flower is a small purple orchid (Guaria morada), but everyone is so in love with their national flower that it's becoming extinct! Some of the wealthier families fill their houses with these flowers every day!
After our Independence Day class, we enjoyed a delicious Independence Day feast cooked by Iveth. We had everything from tortillas and picadillo (diced, cooked vegetables) to aqua dulce (sweet water, it tastes a little like molasses) and arroz con leche (rice with milk, basically rice pudding). As Friday was Mateo's birthday, we also got to finally experience one of Iveth's famous cakes. Mateo's was a chocolate, coffee, coconut cake! SOOOO good, although I'm not sure if it beats my snow day cake (chocolate and coffee - mom, I'm adding that to my list of food we need to make when I get home... maybe a late birthday cake?).
On Saturday, we headed into town for the Independence Day parades. Each school puts together some sort of performance (a band, a march, a dance) to repeat over and over as they head down the street. I'm pretty sure this parade lasted at least as long as the Macy's parade. Everyone in town seemed to either be performing or watching from the sidewalk, and every kid we passed had on clothes in the national colors, face paint, or adorable Costa Rican hats.
Here are a few photos from the day:
After the parades, we all went home to sleep for a few hours, but met up again at a nearby mall for dinner and... wait for it... Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter. For those of you who have not seen or heard anything about this movie, PLEEEASE go look up a trailer (or better yet, go see it). It's something that cannot be fully explained in words. Actually, I'm just going to post a trailer here, just to make sure everyone sees it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Eo766iZZ0c SERIOUSLY GO WATCH IT
On Sunday, a few of us went to a big park in San Jose for the morning. The day included watching Adam play baseball with a Costa Rican team, pedal-boating around a small lake, and trying to find food. Apparently EVERYTHING closes on Sundays, except for this place called El Tostador (all they sell are peanuts and coffee, but we passed at least 3 of them, all open, while looking for real food. All in all, a very good day.
We are finishing up this part of the semester, with a meeting about our rural stays tomorrow, an exam and presentation on Friday, and picking our electives for the rest of the semester. My future host mom will actually be in San Jose tomorrow, and I think she is going to stop by tomorrow to meet me! I hope that'll make Saturday a little less scary when I show up to my new house!
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